DD is currently weighing study abroad first semester of junior year in Puebla Mexico. previously I read a post stating the MCAT should be taken in January of Junior year. Can anyone give me pro’s and cons of this route. When are applications typically submitted to universities and when would you be expected to interview for medical school.
Typical costs for medical school application and interview process?
She is weighing summer school again at Notre Dame for 6 hours science course electives in lieu of a study abroad semester option as it will lesson her course load . Then the summer before Senior year taking 6 credit hours in Toledo Spain to complete her Supplementary major in Spanish. This would allow her to have 18 credit hours in Fall of Sr year to graduate early in Dec
Currently she is a Science business major with supplemental major in Spanish.
Her thoughts are med school, pediatrics emphasis, or physician assistant orthopedics, or Anesthesia assistant.
We are counting every penny to make preparations for what is to come. Summer school has no FA and study abroad also costs extra. If we are better served taking her on an extended vacation after graduation, your input will help me allocate our resources.
Thank you in advance.
Study abroad forms are due within next few days sorry for late questions on my part.
Not necessary… we just felt that if goes to summer sessions, less taxing schedule … instead of 18 hours would have 15 hours each semester. . If Toledo Spain would have 6 hours . She enjoyed her time last summer and was able to work closely with Chem professor to have a better grasp of material. She realizes that summer session was difficult but ideal for her. We are weighing total costs also savings is nominal but she would be able to work a few months before med school start
Not necessarily. The MCAT needs to be taken no later than spring of the year she plans to apply. April thru early June is fine. It takes 6 weeks for scores to be posted. Schools won’t even read her application without a MCAT score.
AMCAS opens for applications around June 1. Your D should submit ASAP after it opens. This mean she needs to have all her ducks in a row & ready–personal statement, LORs/committee letter, transcripts, MCAT score, etc.
The biggest issue with an early graduation will be how her college handles health profession committee letters. Medical schools strongly prefer a committee letter if a school offers one. She would need to apply for a committee letter Feb-Mar of the year she’ll apply. Committee letters typically require an in-person interview during the spring as part of the process so she’ll need to go back to campus at least once.
medical school interview season runs from mid-August thru March (April for some schools) of the year of application.
Expensive! Plan on spending $5000 to $15,000 for one application round.
AMCAS primary applications fees – $160 for the first school, plus $68 for each additional school (To maximize her chances, she should apply to at least 12-15 schools. Perhaps more depending on her home state and stats.)
secondary application fees – allow $100 per school
travel expenses will vary widely depending on how many schools she will interview at and the their location (if she needs to fly, travel will run quickly into several thousands of $$) Don’t forget to include meals, local transit (cabs, shuttles), and hotels in your calculations.
Comment #1 --I would be cautious about loading up with courses during the summer of her application year and that fall semester.
During the summer she will be inundated with secondary applications--which all require additional essays (4-6 is usual) and need to be returned ASAP. It's typical to get flooded with secondaries in July/August. Secondary essays are very important and doing a good job on those essays can mean the difference between getting an interview and not getting one.
Fall semester will be (hopefully) filled with travel. She will miss a good deal of classwork. Most pre med students intentionally take a light class load in the fall to accommodate all the traveling & missed classes. If she's carrying a heavy courseload, it may be difficult to make up missed work and maintain her grades.
Med school interviews are held during the week, Mondays through Thursdays. Interviews are all day affairs and typically run from 9am-4pm. Your D will need to be in town the evening ahead of her interview in order to be there on time in the morning.
Comment #2
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Her thoughts are med school, pediatrics emphasis,
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There is no such thing as a "emphasis" during medical school. Medical school is generalized medical training that covers all age groups and clinical fields. Physicians do not start specializing until after med school graduation during residency. A pediatrics residency lasts a minimum of 3 years and begins the July after med school graduation.
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Her thoughts are med school, pediatrics emphasis, or physician assistant orthopedics, or Anesthesia assistant.
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These are all very, very different pathways and require very different skill sets, training and educational pathways.
Has you d shadowed all 3 professions so that she has good feel for the differences in the day-to-day jobs are? If so, how is she still undecided about which to pursue.
If she's wants to be a physician assistant--that's it's own professional pathway and doesn't require med school. (BTW, does she have the required 200-1000 hours of hands-on patient care required for PA school admission?)
If she wants to be anesthesia assistant--that too is it's own professional pathway and doesn't require med school.
WOWMom has covered the important stuff, I will say, DD studied abroad fall of junior year, she wishes now that she had stayed for the entire year, but came back to keep doing the pre-reqs and take the MCAT that summer.
Do not stress that you must apply summer of junior year and enter med school directly after graduation, it’s fine to apply after graduation and do something interesting during that gap year. Once you begin med school, the path is difficult to step away from, she could have an adventure after graduation if she is so inclined & not harm her application.